West Mersea Town Council has considered long and hard over the 2018/2019 precept and after an extensive discussion we came to the unanimous decision that we had to make an increase from our 2017/2018 figure by 19.57% to maintain our services and pursue some of the items below.

If we now look at how the precept will be spent, there several key areas that the Council is pursuing.

1. A Neighbourhood Plan – It was clear from the Public Meeting held in September 2016 that West Mersea residents wanted a say in the housing situation and not simply to leave this in the hands of the Colchester Borough Council Local Plan. One way of achieving this is to establish a Neighbourhood Plan. However, this costs money and a great deal of volunteer time. We have allowed within the precept to support these costs.

2. The Public Toilets – Many residents will remember that there was a public outcry when Colchester Borough Council wanted to close all the public toilets in Mersea. In the end, they were taken over by West Mersea Town Council – The toilets are costly to maintain and within the precept we have to allow for this maintenance and we also have an allowance for the refurbishment of the Willoughby facility within the 2018/2019 period.

3. Sport at the Glebe - West Mersea Town Council are working with all the sports clubs that use the Glebe to enhance and improve sport for all ages of our residents and visiting teams.

4. Cemeteries - West Mersea Town Council has emabarked on the substantial task with extensive work behind the scenes to preserve archived records for future generations. This is in conjunction with support to those in our community to enable arrangements to be made smoothly in difficult and sensitive times.

5. Financial provisions have had to have been carried forward to replace the tractor in the near future which is so essential in the work of the Council. There have also been obligatory pension increases that must be accounted for within the precept.

All this and much more does cost and, although 19.57% appears a high percentage, it is applied to a low base figure so that a Band E property rises by less than £1.40 per month and a Band D property by even less, just over £1. As a local Town Council, we are working hard to provide you all with the best services possible and getting the best value for money we can.